Comments 37

Re: Opinion: Chrono Trigger Isn't The Only Great Time-Travel RPG On DS

duerer

Hmmm, I'm one those WEIRDOES who think that Chrono Cross is the superior game. CT is cute, solid, but ultimately too childish for my jaded taste. CC on the other hand... still haunts me now and then.

As for Radiant Historia: the 3DS version is highly recommended as it has this "wimp mode": trashmobs can be killed in one button press, but bosses require a proper battle playthrough. THIS IS A GODSEND. Otherwise you'll be bored to death: the battle system is good, but too slow for such a high encounter rate game. Bosses feel like proper puzzle battles though.

Re: Final Fantasy Creator Isn't Interested In Revisiting The Franchise

duerer

Let's not forget that Sakaguchi-san's departure from Square was beefy. He nearly bankrupted Square with the Final Fantasy movie.
Given that Japanese people still obsessed by honour, this spectacular downfall pretty much nulls his return to Square.

Personally, I love his FF work, but also appreciate that FF got very progressive after his era. Problem is that the subsequent games do not have any coherent creative direction, hence they miss more than hit.

XI and XIV are MMOs, and guess what: XIV is actually good! (took one reboot to achieve this, though)
XII is a top-tier game, really love the mature world building and the offline-MMO gameplay not unlike Xenoblades.
XIII / XV had some great ideas, shame that the execution is sorely lacking (XV was the one and only game I returned for a money back guarantee -yes, it's that bad IMHO).
XVI is a great game (although not a jRPG anymore) - but I find the story total 10/10 cringe. Western storytelling simply does not fit in a Japanese game.

All in all: a strong content producer at Square is sorely missed for the series.

Re: Poll: What's The Best SaGa Game? Rate Your Favourites For Our Upcoming Ranking

duerer

Scarlet Grace, baby.
Play with Leonard: this opens up the game almost immediately, so you can ignore the (not so hot) plot, and start exploring right away.
The battle system is highly original and surprisingly straightforward, so start beating the crap out of the EASY enemies.
Once you get the gist of the basics, use the save game feature all the time and experiment. Eventually, you'll realize what makes this game tick and YOU WILL BE HOOKED FOR LIFE.
Excellent stuff.

Re: Frogwares' Legal Dispute With Nacon Over 'The Sinking City' Is Finally Done

duerer

For the record: a mystery game works best if it is linear. This way the writer has all the power to create a fine yarn, else the story will be unnecessarily convoluted, incoherent and badly paced (yes, these issues were all present in Sinking City)

The only non-linear, open-world mystery that REALLY works is the underrated Paradise Killer (excellent on Switch, grab it ASAP if you don't have it already!), but it is a very different beast to Frogwares' creations.

Re: Dungeon-Crawling RPG Legend Of Grimrock Is Getting A Switch Release

duerer

I LOVE the original on PC (it even has a very cool dungeon editor!), but...
... The User Interface.
It was designed for mouse and keyboard, so I'm baffled how a controller would work (assume: clunky at best).

Vaporum, a similar dungeon blobber (this is the subgenre's super nerdy name) of PC origin has a cool pause-move feature to counter its ridiculous controller layout (modifiers galore, yaaaay!)

On the contrary:
Stranger of Sword City, another dungeon blobber originally on Vita, was designed for controllers, and works like a charm (but sucks big time with keyboard+mouse on PC)

Re: Video: Zion Shares His Top Five Switch Games Of 2023

duerer

I'm so glad to hear that FE:Engage has found its own fans - usually in "alternate lists" like this one, but nevertheless.
It is an exceptionally good FE game.

I was never a fan of the cringy teen drama in Three Houses, so I really appreciate FE:Engage to dial it back. Its over the top story is almost like a parody of Three Houses: totally forgettable, but totally amusing if you don't take it seriously.

Honestly: FE games stories were never about the seriousness / grim reality of war — if you want this kind of story, you'd better be playing Tactics Ogre or Final Fantasy Tactics or even Triangle Strategy. FE game stories are your typical zero-to-hero shonen manga material, giving some context between the excellent tactical encounters... and FE:Engage delivers this in spades.

Sad to write this now, but war has never been so much fun than in this game.

Re: Multiple Job Losses Expected At Team17 As It Splits With CEO Michael Pattison

duerer

@Maddie47 Because they think QA can be outsourced on the cheap. This is partially true, however...
...the biggest insult is that they think: you do not QA THAT much, because if the game is shipped in some state, it is considered to be good enough.

"Boss, the game is broken
"But can you play it? I mean can you start and play it for a while?
"Yeah but...
"That's enough, we'll patch later - axe the QA team, job done there
"Uhh.. and what about the bug reports for the patch?
"Don't need'em, the community will report any issues anyways
"But... our reputation... I mean our goodwill...?
"Is it in the contract? No. See? So I don't care. Now leave

/bittersweet sarcasm

Re: 3DS Turn-Based JRPG 'The Legend Of Legacy' Is Getting Remastered Next Year

duerer

Wellwell.
I am one of those WEIRDOES who like this game quite much, even better than its supposedly improved Alliance Alive semi-sequel.

Please note: this is a SaGa game stripped to its absolute core: super minimal storytelling, full RNG combat and jolly good music - best consumed in small doses.

The original 3DS version is one of those rare games where the 3d effect is superb and I believe quintessential part of the experience - not sure how the game fares without it, as the graphics is quite minimal as well.

Re: Broken Sword-Inspired Adventure 'Crowns And Pawns' Hits Switch This Month

duerer

@sketchturner re: good reviews on Steam
That's why I mentioned, that I can be persuaded otherwise

It happened me more than once, for example, Detective Di: Silk Rose Murders looks absolutely horrible, yet the actual game was a very pleasant surprise to me.

Problem is, I'm a jaded adventure gamer, so if a game pretends to be good, it must be VERY good indeed

Re: Broken Sword-Inspired Adventure 'Crowns And Pawns' Hits Switch This Month

duerer

This is quite sad actually.
The original Broken Sword had a certain timeless charm with its goofy characters and macabre plot, while this... just wants to be very witty, cool and mysterious. Emphasis on WANTS TO BE.

Almost all common design faults can be seen in this short trailer: a badly executed script, a very unlikable protagonist, and a totally mediocre overall premise - but oh it is so contemporary and cinematic!

I know that making a game even this quality takes considerable effort, but fulfilling someone's script writing / movie direction ambitions does not result in a great adventure game. Animation Arts and later, Daedalic did the same mistake, and look where are they now. Microids just barely survived this too.

There is a reason why we, adventure game lovers adore those iconic games from the 90s by Lucas/Sierra/Revolution, or even the modern masterpieces from WadJetEye — sadly, this game is not even near.

Needless to say, I'll buy this game, because I'm a sucker for these type of games, but my expectations are extremely low.
Maybe I'm wrong though. Surprise me

Re: Best Nintendo Switch Soulslikes - Games To Play If You Like Dark Souls

duerer

Would like to mention two 2d soulslike I really like (wow, is this an awkward rhyme?)

MORBID: nice soulslike gameplay, very good pixel art graphics, excellent macabre story

LUCAH: great soulslike gameplay with excellent customisation, graphics is "interesting" (I like it though), story is meh (it's one of those oh-so-serious crap)

Re: Marvelous Reveals Opening Anime Movie For Upcoming Action RPG Silent Hope

duerer

Hmmm, I know this is a standard Japanese thing for games, but... honestly, what's the point of these anime intros?

The Tales series is doing this for ages, but still... I don't get this
"angry shonen jumps to stratosphere and slices things with swords while cute waifu is preparing some food and look happily among random monsters emerging from somewhere, presented in incomprehensible quick cuts"-stuff.

TBH, the only anime intro I liked was Tales of Zestiria's... because of the badass music.

Re: Random: Fire Emblem Engage Lead VA Struggled To Buy A Special Edition Copy Of The Game

duerer

Hehh, I was fortunate enough to get the Divined Ed., but only by sheer coincidence.

I was hesitating to buy the game on release-day...
... but after reading a few reviews pointing out as negative that the story is thin and the social aspects dialed back — I wanted to buy the game IMMEDIATELY, har-har.

So I went to my trusty supplier, saw both the standard physical and the more expensive Divine Ed available - and I said: f*ck it, let's go for the collector's

...TL;DR, the Divine Ed was an impulse buy for me, which is not very common for expensive, limited collector editions

Re: Atlus Releases Strict Streaming Guidelines For Persona 3 Portable & Persona 4 Golden

duerer

@snarls200 Fair use is a legally gray term anyway.
Ideally it should be a "live and let live"-situation, while in practice this is more of a "you rub my back, I'll rub your back"-scenario.

The first one is extremely hard to define legally, while the latter is a basic non-hostile business behaviour that could be taken out of context very easily and to be turned into a very aggressive business behaviour.

In both cases, lots of legal disputes are imminent — so the case is all yours Mr Phoenix Wright

Re: Atlus Releases Strict Streaming Guidelines For Persona 3 Portable & Persona 4 Golden

duerer

@SonOfDracula
"Nobody replying can explain why Twitch and YouTube are running off of broadcasts"

This one is easy. Because Twitch and Youtube (Google) has their own exclusive agreements with a common copyright management agency, that certain percent of their revenue will be sent to this agency — and this agency will split this revenue among its members (musicians, movie studios, game publishers, you name it)

There, you have it.

Re: Atlus Releases Strict Streaming Guidelines For Persona 3 Portable & Persona 4 Golden

duerer

@SonOfDracula
"... you are NOT using a game devs work by broadcasting it. Otherwise, nobody would be allowed to broadcast/stream, period. Since there's already millions of people streaming on Twitch and YT alone, that point is moot."

... and there lies the misunderstanding. The fact that millions are streaming does not negate the fact that these millions are acting against copyright laws.

Now consider this: by law, Atlus has the right to cashgrab the income of streamers... but NO, they don't want to do that.
All they ask nicely is to be a responsible streamer, put on their copyright and mask out the story twists with a spoiler banner.

What exactly here that upsets you so much?
That Atlus is actually a very cool company for creating cool games and for not behaving as a greedy corporate b*stard?
Or that Atlus actually asks a small favour in return of using their games for YOUR purposes?

If this would be rich boys Microsoft or Sony, I might somewhat agree with your anti-corporate idealism, but Atlus is a small firm, struggling to survive in these desperate times.
And heck, I'll support them, because they gave me one of my best gaming experiences in recent years (SMTV for life!)

Re: Atlus Releases Strict Streaming Guidelines For Persona 3 Portable & Persona 4 Golden

duerer

@SonOfDracula
Hmmm, I won't be popular with this one, but anyways...

The streamer's their own sound alert and their visible persona are surely the streamer's work ... but it has not much of a value.

If I play Persona 4 and stream myself playing it:
Have I added something to the Persona 4 experience? Nope. I play exactly the same game as you.

Have I made Persona 4 a better game than it already is? Definitely not. The game was already expertly crafted by the developers. I am not involved with the game's quality whatsoever.

Have I persuaded you to buy the game? Probably not, in fact I might damage the game's business. As pointed out earlier, Persona is a story oriented game, so if I spoil the story for you, why should you buy the game? You've just binge watched the whole stuff for free!

So what is the "value" I added to Persona?
Well, my ugly face, plus my annoying personality, and... that's it.

If I would just show myself not playing anything, merely being silly, would you watch my stream? Probably not. You would watch my stream because of Persona 4.

See? I, as a streamer, I would be totally nothing without Persona 4 — thus I owe a great deal to Atlus for that.

Re: Atlus Releases Strict Streaming Guidelines For Persona 3 Portable & Persona 4 Golden

duerer

@WhiteUmbrella As I explained in my post, this is NOT fair use. We can talk about fair use when both parties interests are met - which is clearly not the case here.

As for the "against corporate line" agenda of yours: we live in a free world, you believe what you want to believe...
... but at the end it all boils down to this simple concept: being part of the society, thus having a job, getting paid for work and securing a honest living, and eventually strengthening the society. Everything else is pure idealism. I am no advocate of any "corporate line".

Don't worry though: it took me many many many years to understand this. In time you will understand it too.

Re: Atlus Releases Strict Streaming Guidelines For Persona 3 Portable & Persona 4 Golden

duerer

@WhiteUmbrella

Well, the business math simply won't work with your logic.

YOU buy the game for personal entertainment - that's OK, you pay $50 for Atlus. As someone pointed out earlier, you pay for the rights to play and get entertained. Like it or not, that's the fact.

YOU stream the game for your wide audience for free - that's NOT OK, because you are sharing Atlus' work to others for free. (not just to your close friends, which is OK, but to masses of unknown people, which is NOT OK).

YOU GET PAID for your stream - that's ABSOLUTELY NOT OK, because your income depends on Atlus' work and not yours.
You add nothing of value to Atlus' work with your stream, therefore why get paid based on Atlus' work?

See? Here lies the problem: you get paid for a job done by others.

Technically, you should either split your income between you and Atlus, OR pay Atlus for a broadcast license to compensate all those hard-working faceless, nameless people you will never ever get to know for their honest work made for YOUR entertainment.

Re: Atlus Releases Strict Streaming Guidelines For Persona 3 Portable & Persona 4 Golden

duerer

I'm sad that my comment removed. Yes, that was passionate. Yes, that could be misread as as threatening rant.

Let me re-iterate the thoughts in a sorta-less-threatening way, because I think the message is very important for the younger generation.

When you stream someone's work, you actually reap the rewards for someone's work for FREE.
So if the original creator asks for as little as "put my copyright on the stream pretty please" and you disobey - then you are a freeloader and should be treated as such.